


don't lie down upon this bed

by SafelyCapricious



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deal with a Devil, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2015-11-07
Packaged: 2018-04-30 11:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5162420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are a lot of things Grant isn’t expecting out of today, to look at one of the security cameras at the direction of one of the men and to see Simmons standing in the middle of his newest base, at least the bottom floor of it, holding some black device in one hand and pressing the fingers of the other hand into the top of it is definitely high on the list.</p>
            </blockquote>





	don't lie down upon this bed

**Author's Note:**

> I am super, stupid behind on a lot of things. Including ongoing fics and comment replies and headcanons. But this is self contained and I was inspired (and wanted to get it up before canon totally chewed it up and spit it out.) 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

There are a lot of things Grant isn’t expecting out of today, to look at one of the security cameras at the direction of one of the men and to see Simmons standing in the middle of his newest base, at least the bottom floor of it, holding some black device in one hand and pressing the fingers of the other hand into the top of it is definitely high on the list.

His men are surrounding her, and he can see her lips moving. She looks shaky and uncertain, her eyes wide and her skin pale. But she’s still Simmons – and that means that she’s probably holding something dangerous and just the chance that his men won’t listen – “Get me Bishop on the line, now!” he snaps at one of the men at his side. He can see Bishop on the screen, gun aimed at Simmons’ head.

His men are supposed to be professionals, but he’s still relieved when no one accidentally shoots when the phone rings – though two of them jump badly enough that he makes a mental note that they’ll need more training.

Bishop confirms that Simmons is claiming to have a bomb that’ll explode if her hands move, and then tries to hand the phone to her. Grant watches Simmons jerk away – one of his men actually steady her and then when she flinches at that touch he backs away with his hand in the air. Most of his men have lowered their guns at this point and yeah, he’s going to have to do some more training for everyone.

Finally Bishop hits the speaker on the phone and just holds it out towards Simmons.

Grant tries to bring up who he was on the Bus – before – it’s hard and he doesn’t really like doing it, but Simmons has a bomb and even though his other men are evacuating the inventory that’s not in the main room, they still need time. And he’s hoping he can simply talk her down. “Simmons, hi, what have you got there?”

Her lips twitch like she’s thinking of smiling, but it turns into a frown and she says, in a flat voice that’s different from anything he’s heard from her – even when she was threatening to kill him. “Incentive.”

He waits for a few moments for more, but nothing comes. She’s looking around the room, but he can’t tell if she’s actually seeing it – her eyes look distant but it might just be that he’s watching her through a grainy surveillance video feed.

“And what do you think I need incentive for, Simmons?” he finally prompts, voice warm and friendly.

Her gaze drifts back to the phone and she tilts her head. “To not kill me before you’ve heard me out.” He’s already getting ready to gently nudge for more when she continues on her own, “I need your help, Ward.”

It’s the sort of thing she would’ve said without a second thought back, before, but there’s a heaviness to her tone that tells him she, at least, isn’t trying to use their shared history to mean anything. He blames trying to use his cover to talk to her now for how her words make him feel.

But that doesn’t stop him from responding how he would’ve, before. “I’ll always help, if I can, Simmons.” He doesn’t miss her rolling her eyes, even on the grainy footage, and it’s the most like herself she’s seemed since she’s gotten here. “You didn’t need to bring a bomb to make a point.”

She laughs – and it’s sharp and grating and he can see some of his men flinch at the sound. “I’m not stupid. And I’m not naïve – not anymore. If you didn’t have me killed for setting foot here,” and he really needed to find out how, exactly, she’d found his base, “it would’ve only been because you wanted to wait to kill me in front of May or Coulson.”

His soft approach clearly isn’t working, so he shifts gears and asks, honestly curious, “And how were you planning to avoid dying with carrying a bomb?”

She wrinkles her nose. Bishop is starting to fidget with the phone, having had to hold still so long, but he’s a good man and he stays still enough that she doesn’t flinch. “I figured this way, at least, I’d get your attention. Besides, you want to help me.” She takes a deep breath and looks up – not towards the camera he’s watching her from, but actually towards where the room he’s in is. “It’ll hurt SHIELD.”

He arches an eyebrow and makes a decision, muting his phone for a moment and ordering his men to continue the evacuation – just in case this is a trap – before starting down the stairs. “I’m listening.”

He’s rounding the corner of the lower room while she’s explaining the connection between SHIELD and this new organization, ATCU. Her eyes find him almost immediately and he’s impressed – her spatial awareness has gotten much better since their time on the Bus. He hangs up, and Bishop gladly lowers the phone and takes a step back. Simmons is still describing the relationship when he steps close and can finally see the bomb. It’s flat and round and reminds him of the splinter bombs, but it’s not quite that. There are small buttons circling the top, and she’s got her fingers pressed against three of them – considering that her hands are probably cramping, the positioning, despite seeming random, is very deliberately something difficult to copy. He’s a little more impressed then he wants to admit.

She’s started to ramble now, something about inhumans and Coulson and so he waves a hand through the air to get her to stop. “That’s nice, Simmons, but what does this have to do with what you want us to do?”

She takes a deep breath and meets his eyes straight on. She been mad, before, and he’d looked in her eyes and she was willing to kill him then, but this is nothing like that. For one, it’s not directed at him, and for two he’s suddenly certain that even if this place _were_ filled with civilians, if blowing it up would get her what she wanted, she’d do it. He’s definitely going to have to reevaluate his play. “The ATCU is holding someone. I want them out and safe.”

He leans close and softens his voice. “Fitz?”

The look that crosses her face is filled with sorrow, but she shakes her head. “No,” and then before he can ask about Skye or someone else she straightens and looks fiercely at him. “You’ve never met him.”

He decides to let it go – for now – and shrugs lightly before gesturing and then sitting down in the chair one of his men brings over. “So, what do I get out of rescuing your boy?” She looks at the bomb, then at him, and he smiles sharply. “You know you can’t hold us hostage like this for much longer – I could clear out most of my men and equipment and have a sniper take you out. So that got you this meeting – and the chance to walk away if we can’t reach an agreement. You need to give me something else.”

She takes a breath and seems to count in her head before letting it out. “I can get you all the information for where they’re holding him, you’ll be able to do irreparable damage to the ATCU, and through them, SHIELD. There is a high likelihood, even, of SHIELD agents being at the facility, but I don’t have control or knowledge of all of their movements so I can’t promise anyone or where they would be.”

He arches an eyebrow and leans forward. “I’d rather have SHIELD.” She bites her lower lip and hesitates, and so he decides to twist the blade. “Unless he’s not worth it? What’s his name, anyways?”

He’s expecting her to snap, to agree to anything or to try to leave or maybe to blow them up. What he’s not expecting is for her expression to soften and her gaze to go distant. “Will. His name is Will.” She lets out a shuddering breath, closes her eyes in a long blink and then nods. “I can get you schematics for the ten latest weapons SHIELD is developing. You could either make your own or just learn to exploit their weaknesses. And I will destroy the algorithm I developed to predict where your base is going to be.”

They’ve been found in their last four bases and had to move – he is positive they haven’t been leaving a trail or moving in any sort of pattern but…He knows better than to underestimate Simmons. He’s considering what his counter offer is going to be when she asks, suddenly, “Where’s Kara?”

He flinches.

No one here even knows her name so it doesn’t – he looks past Simmons’ shoulder when he says, voice hard, “May killed her.”

She twitches like she wants to reach out for him, but her fingers stay pressed against the bomb. “I’m sorry,” she says, voice soft and she honestly sounds it.

He remembers, suddenly, asking Kara what she thought about his old team when she was curled up on his chest, sweaty and sated, as Morse softened in the other room. Simmons had been the only one she’d liked. He’d chosen then not to tell Kara that she’d recently tried to kill him because she seemed so pleased to like anyone from his old life and – he pushes those thoughts down, down to heat the revenge in his stomach.

“Twenty of the latest weapon schematics,” he says, voice hard.

She frowns slightly at him and shakes her head no. Before he can question her commitment to this Will, she continues with, “I only have access to ten.” Then she bites her lip and drops her gaze. “But I can make _you_ five new ones. It might take some time, once you get Will I won’t have – but I’ll do it.”

He rolls the offer over in his head. She’ll have a lot of chances to forget about it, if she and this Will run off once he’s rescued. But keeping her locked up, well, if she has access to a lab she’ll probably be able to make another bomb and – probably true if he tries to use Will as collateral for her good behavior. After all, she’s apparently willing to deal with him, and he honest thought he was probably her least favorite person in the world, to rescue this man. But…That will work. He can win them over, he’s sure, given a little time.

He tilts his head and smiles – and maybe he lays it on a little thick because her eyes narrow at it, but that just makes him amused and that, for some reason, seems to reassure her. “Tell you what, unless you’ve been practicing being on the run, you’re going to need a place to lay low. How about you and your Will stay in one of my safe houses for a year. You get me six new weapon designs – or another weapon design for every two months you stay if you need longer – if he’s hurt – and we call it even.”

She watches him, and he spreads his arms wide. After all, he’s not lying now. He’s happy for the chance to take a shot at SHIELD, even if it is through an intermediary agency, and he’s more than happy with the promised weapon designs and the chance to win her and whoever she brings with her over to his side.

“Fine,” she says, finally, her face firm, “I’ll text you the information about the facility and where to find Will. When you have him I’ll meet you with the designs.”

She turns on her heel and walks out, back stiff and fingers still pressed against her bomb. His men wait, around him, and he’s sure some of them think he’s going to have them kill her but no, they don’t understand. This is so much better than gun running. They need that to get started but, long term, HYDRA needs people like her.

“Well?” he finally says, “Shouldn’t you all be getting ready for a mission to attack the ATCU?” They scramble, then, quickly.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find my writing tumblr [here](http://capriciouswrites.tumblr.com/). <3 Prompts are always welcome! Come say hi!
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! <3


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